Autumn Covered Bridge. Painting #86

Hello friends! It seems like it’s been awhile since I posted or I haven’t been posting frequently. I have been a busy artist over the past month or so. I’ll have to take another post to tell you all about it.

Autumn Covered Bridge is painting number 86. You’re driving along the back roads on a sunny autumn day taking in the foliage. Your wandering takes you to this rare covered bridge that has a little beach area. This little clearing looks like a great spot to drop a line and catch some fall small mouth bass. They would just love the cover of that covered bridge.

The inspiration comes from one of my Twitch channel followers who posted a photo in my Discord server. I liked the photo a lot and thought it would make a good painting. It also happens to be a spot in Maine, one of my favorite places.

This painting is an original meaning I didn’t follow along with Bob or Bill. However, I did use my normal Bob Ross paints with one exception. I ran out of Midnight Black. Since I was at a nearby art store, I just picked up some black oil color since it was convenient. What I ended up getting was Grumbacher Academy Ivory Black. Color wise, I can’t really notice a difference since it’s usually mixed in with other colors such as the mountain mixture. The paint comes out in a thin roll unlike Bob’s thick dispenser. It’s not as thick either. But it works just fine for mixing and adding dark color to your foliage and mountain base colors.

Colors

• Alizarin Crimson
• Bright Red
• Cadmium Yellow
• Dark Sienna
• Indian Yellow
• Midnight Black
• Phthalo Blue
• Sap Green
• Titanium Hwite
• Van Dyke Brown
• Yellow Ochre
• Don’t forget the Liquid Hwite!

Equipment

• 2 Inch Brush
• 1 Inch Brush
• #6 Fan Brush
• Large Palette Knife
• Script Liner Brush

I love it! The covered bridge turned out great! I’m sort of surprised. I usually don’t like to put structures into my paintings and this is like a really big cabin! This painting is sort of rare because it came together over the course of 3 different days. It was nice being able to take my time though. When you can take your time, you don’t feel rushed or anything. Once you get to a point where you don’t have to worry about it drying and going back you can take as much time as you need and go back and complete a section. That is the key to doing a painting over several days. Finish a portion you don’t need to go back and mess with or a portion that you can mess with once it’s a bit dry, like adding highlights or something.

This painting also challenged my artistic vision, if you will. There was something off when I was finishing it up but couldn’t put my finger on it. Something was bugging me. What it turned out being was a perspective issue with the structural elements of the painting. As soon as I fixed it, it became clear.

I had a lot of fun with this painting. I also sat down and painted on my desk which was another thing that raised the relaxation factor. Smaller canvases are better to do while sitting down in my opinion.

If you’re interested in purchasing any of my art, you can find this and others in my Art Shop in the top menu. I’ve also been doing some mini art lately that I’ll post about soon. That stuff can be found in my Etsy shop.

Happy painting everyone!